Effects
Effects are mechanics that affect Investigator Statistics, Flashlight Statistics and Creature Statistics if certain conditions are met. Investigator Effects Walking Backwards Walking backwards decreases an investigator's Speed by 50%. The Walking Backwards speed debuff forces the investigators to choose between dazzling the creature or fleeing away from it (reduced effect on Hannah). Walking in Darkness Walking with the flashlight off decreases an investigator's Speed by 15%. The Walking in Darkness speed debuff offsets the advantage of being harder to detect by the creature and its idols while the flashlight is off (except for Sarah). Tiredness Tiredness gradually decreases an investigator's Sprint Speed during continuous Sprinting. Once an investigator starts accumulating Tiredness by Sprinting repeatedly, Sprint Speed will gradually decrease until it is very close to normal Walk Speed. The investigator will start panting more and more. Once an investigator has recovered its Stamina by not Sprinting, Tiredness will start to decrease until Sprint Speed is back to normal. The investigator will pant less and less until it finally ceases. Tiredness decreases with an investigator's Endurance. Tiredness slows down the investigators and makes it dangerous for them to rush through the map for clues, as they won't be able to flee as easily from a creature ambush (reduced effect on Anna). Paranoia Paranoia decreases an investigator's Exploration and Bravery depending on how isolated he or she is. If there is a team of 4 investigators and only 2, 1 or 0 of them are close to an investigator, Exploration and Bravery are decreased by 8%, 12% or 24% for that investigator, respectively. If the team is only of 3 investigators, the debuffs are of 12% and 24%, respectively, and for a team of 2, the debuff is 16%. Paranoia decreases 33% per investigator Stealth point, and ceases at +3 Stealth points or more. Paranoia makes it difficult for all but the stealthiest investigators to effectively split from the group and find clues on their own while surviving creature ambushes. Insanity Insanity stops an investigator for some seconds when his or her Sanity reaches 0. Insanity reduces an investigator's Maximum Sanity by 3%. Insanity forces investigators to be careful dazzling the creature and walking around idols (specially in the late-game when Sanity is low) as an insane investigator is often an easy grab. Flashlight Effects Low Battery Low Battery decreases a flashlight's Range by 0.3% per each percentage of Battery missing. Low Battery makes flashlights increasingly ineffective the less Battery they have, forcing the investigators to continuously search for Batteries. Creature Effects Stunning Stunning stops the creature for 2.5 seconds when a flashlight first shines light upon it and makes it suffer from Banishment either after a while or immediately if it was grabbing an investigator. The duration between Stunning and Banishment depends on the creature's Light Resistance. Stunning allows the investigators to set a time limit on a creature ambush (except Olkoth with Invisibility, Astaroth with Breakdown, Okiku with Innocence, and reduced effect on Subject 23). Dazzlement Dazzlement decreases a creature's Speed by 50% whenever light is shining upon it. Dazzlement allows the investigators to slow down the creature so they can escape an ambush (except Olkoth with Invisibility, Astaroth with Breakdown, Okiku with Innocence, and reduced effect on Darcy). Banishment Banishment teleports the creature to a random location if either some time has passed or it was grabbing an investigator after having suffered from Stunning, or if a nearby clue was found by the investigators. The duration between Stunning and Banishment depends on the creature's Light Resistance. Banishment gives the investigators time to recover after an ambush (except Darcy with Misfortune). Habituation Habituation gradually and permanently increases the creature's Light Resistance by 4% per second whenever it's suffering from Dazzlement. Habituation makes the creature far more durable in the late-game which results in stronger ambushes, and discourages the investigators from dazzling the creature except when absolutely necessary. Other Effects Player Autobalance Player Autobalance increases an investigator's Exploration and decreases the creature's Skill Usage and Light Resistance for each missing investigator player. If there are 1, 2 or 3 missing investigator players each investigator's Exploration is increased by 33%, 100% or 300% and the creature's Skill Usage and Light Resistance are decreased by 25%, 50% or 75%, respectively. Player Autobalance tries to balance matches with less than 4 investigators. Match Autobalance Match Autobalance slightly increases the statistics of either the investigators or the creature depending on how fast clues are being found. Match Autobalance slightly balances the match if one side is doing noticeably better than the other.